USB hubs should be simple devices, but apparently it’s not possible to make One Port to Rule Them All without things getting a little messy. We have a full explainer here, but if you just want to get the basics before you buy your hub, here are a few things to keep in mind.

Ports speeds matter, version numbers don’t. It’s tempting to look at a USB 3.2 label and assume it’s faster than USB 3.0 but unfortunately, that’s not the case. In fact, many manufacturers have started defaulting to writing the speed of individual ports directly onto the device itself, rather than relying on version numbers on spec sheets.

Use Thunderbolt for your most data-hungry devices. Thunderbolt is a beefed-up version of USB, developed by Intel and Apple that uses the same USB-C port you’re familiar with. These can carry huge amounts of data (up to 40 Gbps for Thunderbolt 3 and 4), which makes them ideal for things like SSDs, 4K and 8K displays, or monitors with ultrahigh frame rates for gaming. We’re now up to Thunderbolt 5, which is slowly making its way into some laptops.

Don’t forget the power. Most USB hubs will draw electricity directly from your laptop to power any devices connected to it, but they obviously need to take up a port to do so. However, some hubs support USB Power Delivery (or USB-PD, sometimes marketed as “passthrough charging”) which allows you to plug a charger into one of the ports on the hub so you can keep charging your laptop while you plug in all your extra gadgets.